Speaking of the equipment of the Italian infantry division, the main weapons at this stage are 34 100mm field guns, 30 81mm mortars, and 8 47mm anti-tank guns.
Moreover, a considerable part of these artillery pieces were captured from the Austro-Hungarian Empire during World War I, and the rest were mostly assembled with old-fashioned parts produced by Italy before and after World War I. It is not difficult to see from this that
The artillery used by the Italian army can no longer meet the requirements of modern warfare.
But Mussolini didn't think so. He felt that he should win. He felt that the Italian Kingdom was waiting for work, the assault soldiers were tired, and the French army was demoralized, so there was no reason to lose.
In his opinion, the little lieutenant general in front of him who prevented him from participating in the war was probably because he was timid and afraid of fighting.
"Stop being a butt." Mussolini waved his hand impatiently, interrupting the lieutenant general who was trying to dissuade him and said: "In this battle, we only need to die a few thousand people to join as a participating party.
To the final peace negotiations, the Kingdom of Italy has no reason not to participate!"
Yes, it seems that France should surrender soon. If it doesn't take a share of the pie at this time, wouldn't Italy be equivalent to missing a good opportunity that is right in front of it?!
During the Polish campaign, Italy lost the opportunity to share the spoils because it thought too much. Now that the French campaign is almost over, how can it repeat the same mistake!
"Don't worry, according to my research, the main reason why the Germans are invincible is that they have armored divisions and focus on using tanks to fight."
Although Mussolini was half-empty in the military field, he spent the whole day reading Reinhardt's letter: "Germany concentrated on using armored forces and was invincible in blitzkrieg." Now it is more or less ready.
a certain concept.
"Don't forget, the Germans are not the only ones who can intensively use tanks." Mussolini smiled pretending to be profound, and he said to the generals with an air of pointing the country: "This leader has already studied deeply.
He adopted the German tactics and ordered the establishment of three of our Italian armored divisions. Now, we in Italy also have the confidence to conduct a blitzkrieg!"
This is something inevitable in war. With Reinhardt's intervention, you, the Germans, can come up with new tactics in advance and gain an early advantage. But correspondingly, other countries can also take the opportunity to learn from the German army's brilliance.
The armored forces of the Third Reich swept through Poland and overwhelmed France. While shocking the world, they also gave the world experience.
Not to mention other countries, even countries with extremely low levels of mechanization such as Italy, under the influence of Germany, are working hard to establish armored divisions that use tanks intensively. Countries such as the United Kingdom, the United States, and the Soviet Union have stronger industrial foundations.
As far as the country is concerned, it is more reasonable to establish an armored division.
However, what you learn comes from learning, but whether you can learn it or not depends on the person.
Mussolini, the dictator who led Italy, only learned the surface of Reinhardt's armor tactics without understanding its essence.
Take the three armored divisions he formed in the Italian Army as an example. Although he has a total of 1,200 tanks, nearly 1,100 of them are 3-ton 13 light tanks. The armor is very thin and only rifle bullets can be used.
penetrate.
Moreover, these Italian thin-skinned tanks also have a huge and biggest feature, that is, they are not equipped with artillery, and the main weapon they carry is only a machine gun. Even Italy’s own armored generals also jokingly called this pocket version that has long been eliminated by Britain, France and Germany.
The tank is a "rouge box", also known as a "sardine can".
In fact, Mussolini did not know that his pocket tanks were not suitable for combat like German tanks, but could only be used as auxiliary tools for transporting ammunition during wartime, and existed as small transport vehicles that looked like tanks.
And his other approximately 100 6-ton Italian 16 medium tanks cannot go to the front line yet.
The reason is that the gun sight is defective and needs to be repaired. Otherwise, it will not be able to fire accurately even when it is on the front line.
In addition, the enemy's British or French armored forces at that time were mostly equipped with medium tanks of more than 13 tons. In front of them, Mussolini's armored divisions were just superficial and vulnerable.
"Dear leader..." The anxious Italian Army Lieutenant General really wanted to speak out loud and tell Mussolini that the Italian armored forces were fundamentally different from those of Germany.
, tell others that there is a gap between people and between countries.
Since no one in Italy expects you, Mussolini, to become an omniscient and omnipotent figure like Reinhardt, then you don’t have to ask the Italian German army to become as powerful as the German army!
Unfortunately, the Lieutenant General who hesitated to speak was finally stopped by Itano Balbo, who knew how to read eyes.
This Italian Air Force Marshal can be said to be one of the few talented people among Italian senior officials.
Due to Mussolini's promotion, Balbo served as the Minister of Aviation of the Kingdom of Italy from 1929 to 1933. Although he knew nothing about flying before, he quickly learned to fly and began to reorganize the Royal Italian Air Force.
During his tenure, he worked hard to develop Italy's military and civil aviation industry, striving to build the Italian Air Force into the most elite force. Balbo has always emphasized that as long as it has air superiority, the Italian Army will not fail even if it is unable to fight.
.
After all, the air force can not only support the army's offensive when it attacks, but also provide cover bombing and pursue the enemy when the army retreats. It can be said to be Balbo's gold-plated unit.
Not enough may also be due to his high reputation, which aroused the suspicion of Mussolini, the conceited dictator.
So at the end of 1933, while Balbo was promoted to Air Marshal, he was also relieved of his position in the Air Force.
This point is somewhat similar to Reinhard's method of promoting Brauchitsch to field marshal while simultaneously removing him from the post of commander-in-chief of the army.
Of course, the motivations of Mussolini and Reinhardt were completely opposite. Reinhardt demoted Brauchitsch for the sake of the public and the country. But Mussolini was purely for his own private power.
Consolidate.
It is a pity that if Mussolini had not suppressed Balbo so early, perhaps Italy's current air force strength would be even greater.
After all, during the days when Balbo was working, Italian aviation technology made rapid progress. As of today, Italy has 1,132 bombers, about 900 of which are combat capable, and of these 900 aircraft, 600
The degree of modernization is very high. Italy also has 1,100 fighters and attack aircraft, 700 of which are combat capable.
In addition, Italy has hundreds of transport and reconnaissance aircraft, as well as 323 old aircraft in East Africa. It can be said that the strength of the Italian Air Force today has caught up with the British and French air forces, which were weakened by the Germans. Its bombers and fighters
The strength even exceeds that of the current Britain!
Therefore, in the eyes of Balbo, a capable man, even if the Italian Army is not very good, he can still guarantee that the Air Force can suppress the French. Even though he has not had contact with the Italian Air Force for many years.